Aerosol Metering Valve With Piston Separation for Repeatable Dosing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing aerosol metering valve systems struggle to provide accurately metered doses that are highly repeatable until the container is completely emptied, while maintaining simplicity, compactness, and reliability, and avoiding contact between the dispensed product and propellant gas, especially under varying conditions such as temperature and viscosity.
Innovation Solution
An aerosol metering valve system with a metering chamber, piston, and charging channel, utilizing a piston spring to ensure precise dosing, and a charging channel with a closure to maintain product separation from the propellant, allowing for universal application without specialist tools and reduced external dimensions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a conventional aerosol valve system is used, then the structure is simple and compact, but the dosing precision and repeatability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The valve system is divided into distinct functional components: a metering chamber for precise volume measurement, a piston mechanism for controlled product transfer, a charging channel for propellant introduction, and a discharge outlet for dose delivery. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, achieving high dosing precision while maintaining overall system manageability
Solution Approach 2:
The piston acts as an intermediary element between the charging channel and the metering chamber. It separates the propellant charging process from the product dispensing process, ensuring that the product is transferred to the metering chamber in a controlled manner without direct contact with propellant gas, thereby maintaining dosing precision
2Quantity of substance
If the container is used until completely emptied, then the total quantity of product dispensed increases, but the dosing repeatability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The metering chamber is pre-filled with a precise volume of product before each dispensing cycle. The piston is positioned in advance to define the exact dose volume in the metering chamber, ensuring that each discharge delivers a repeatable dose regardless of the remaining quantity in the container
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates a charging channel with a closure mechanism that responds to pressure changes in the container. As the container is emptied, the closure automatically adjusts to maintain the correct charging pressure, providing feedback control that ensures consistent dosing repeatability throughout the container's lifecycle
3Device complexity
If the product contacts the propellant gas, then the dispensing process becomes simpler, but the product purity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The piston serves as a physical barrier and intermediary between the propellant gas in the charging channel and the product in the metering chamber. During the charging process, the piston prevents direct contact between propellant and product, while still allowing pressure transmission to move the product. This maintains product purity while enabling the dispensing function
Solution Approach 2:
The internal volume of the valve system is segmented into separate zones: a charging channel for propellant, a metering chamber for product, and a discharge outlet. This spatial segmentation prevents mixing of propellant and product, ensuring product purity while maintaining a relatively simple overall valve structure
4Measurement precision
If the metering chamber volume is increased to improve dosing accuracy, then the dosing precision improves, but the external dimensions of the system increase
Solution Approach 1:
The metering chamber is nested within the valve body structure, with the piston moving along the charging channel that is coaxially arranged within the metering chamber. This nested configuration allows the metering chamber to have sufficient volume for accurate dosing while being compactly integrated into the overall valve assembly, minimizing external dimensions
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system ensures precise, repeatable dosing without propellant contact, maintains compact design, and is universally applicable to standard containers, enhancing reliability and ease of use.
Implementation Method 1
a piston spring arranged in the metering chamber, resting with its one end against the piston and exerting pressure on the piston towards the charging port
Implementation Method 2
A classic aerosol container contains a sprayed agent (e.g. in liquid form) and a propellant, being a fluid or a gas under pressure. Triggering the aerosol valve causes the valve to be opened and the sprayed agent to be discharged by the pressurized propellant towards the outlet
Data Source
AI summary
The object of the invention is an aerosol metering valve system for dispensing a metered dose of product comprising: a metering chamber defined by a side wall, a top wall and a bottom wall, a charging port extending from the bottom wall of the metering chamber, a releasing stem extending from the top wall of the metering chamber, wherein the releasing stem is connected with a stem block extending towards the charging port, a piston arranged in the metering chamber and moveable in the metering chamber, a piston spring arranged in the metering chamber, resting with its one end against the piston and exerting pressure on the piston towards the charging port, wherein there is a charging channel arranged coaxially in the metering chamber, wherein the piston tightly surrounds the charging channel, wherein the charging channel has a charging opening closed by a closure and connecting the charging channel with the propulsion space under the piston and/or the charging port, and the charging channel has a dose opening connecting the charging channel with the dose space above the piston.